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Post-secondary Students with Disabilities Network (PSDNet) Invitation for Profiles

We would like to invite you to share your experiences, ideas, and insights with the Post-secondary Students with Disabilities Network (PSDNet). PSDNet is a social innovation virtual network that harnesses the power of online and social media technology to support post-secondary education (PSE) students with disabilities. Our aim is to remove barriers and create opportunities that empower and promote success of PSE students with disabilities.

We are developing profiles that will be featured on the PSDNet website to highlight positive graduate/current student role models with disabilities who have successfully navigated post-secondary education. The profiles will each consist of a biography and a few questions and answers about the individual’s post-secondary educational experiences. We have invited you to create a profile, as the sharing of your experiences and knowledge will provide an opportunity for PSE students with disabilities throughout Canada to learn, be inspired, and move into new possibilities.

About Us

Initiated in 2015, PSDNet is a 3-year applied research project supported by the Social Science and Humanities Council of Canada that promotes the empowerment and social development of PSE students with disabilities across Ontario. Our partnership brings together researchers, collaborators, and students from George Brown College, the National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS), Nipissing University, and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. By working together, the partnership will enable PSE students with disabilities, faculty of PSE students with disabilities, and PSE alumni with disabilities to connect in ways seldom experienced in the current PSE environment. The PSDNet e-Mentoring program is the flagship initiative of the project wherein PSE students with disabilities develop supportive mentoring relationships with PSE alumni with disabilities.

We offer:

•Information and resources on a range of topics related to students with disabilities in the context of post-secondary education

•Connection opportunities for PSE students that foster community building and social support

•Mentoring experiences that empower PSE students with disabilities

We educate:

•The post-secondary education community, which includes PSE students with and without disabilities, faculty and staff, and the broader community

We mobilize:

•Knowledge, including research and evaluation, through innovative means.

We hope that you will accept our invitation to create a profile for PSDNet. We have been collecting profiles since 2016, and are planning to develop more in Spring 2017. We will ask you to share bibliographical information about yourself and to provide answers to a few questions. The profiles can be completed in a written response through email, and also, if preferred, audio-recorded in person or by telephone. If audio-recorded, questions will be provided ahead of time and the conversation will be scheduled at a time and/or place that suits you. We would also like to include a photograph of you if you are willing, and if there are any web links (i.e. Linkedin, previous profiles, etc.) that might be useful and permanent, these could be included as well. The profiles are not lengthy, and it shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes to complete.

Please let us know if you are interested in knowing more about PSDNet or in participating in a creating a profile for PSDNet by contacting Hilde Zitzelsberger at hilde.zitzelsberger@uoit.ca or 905.431.6163.